by Michele Ulriksen
Secret Sabotage - By Michele Ulriksen
I had no idea that on that hot September morning in 1986 I’d be trading in my normal life for a year in a fenced-in religious asylum. I was told we were going on a family outing to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. What actually happened was quite different and by the time I’d realized what was going on, it was too late to run.
‘Reform at Victory’ is a book I recently finished writing. It is based on a true story about my year in a locked-down all-girl evangelical Southern Baptist styled reform school where I was held against my will when I was sixteen. I was taken immediately to solitary confinement where I was left for six hours in a dark room the size of a walk in closet. Jerry Falwell’s hate filled sermons played through a cassette player outside the door to drown out the sound of my crying. There I sat, in my own urine, having a nervous breakdown amidst self proclaimed born again Christians who thought this was acceptable treatment to reform an Atheist teenager. I wanted to die.
Every day for a year I was told by the preacher, who now operates a similar home in Florida, that I was a whore, a sinner, worthless and that I was going to burn in hell for an eternity. He also somehow convinced my parents I was on drugs, even though I had never tried drugs before going to the reform school. At this place, there were no visits from anyone other than our parents and siblings (after four months); there was no TV, no radio, no reading material except the Bible, no phone calls, no doctor visits, no dental visits; it was complete isolation from the outside world. We were not allowed to wear pants and instead were forced to wear culottes; perhaps the biggest fashion travesty in history. We were told it was a sin for women to wear pants or even to show their knees.
The rules were insane. We were not allowed to talk about boys or movies or celebrities. Rock music was of the devil. Sometimes, we were not allowed to talk at all and were put on dorm silence for no reason. New rules were made up daily to keep us operating in a robotic fashion. We were forced to take strange pills upon our arrival and we were forced to conform and get ‘saved’ otherwise we were threatened with being left there until our 18th birthdays. We were forced to watch movies about the rapture. The film I remember was ‘Thief in the Night.’ This film offered those left behind two choices: get your head chopped off and go to heaven or get the mark of the beast but spend an eternity in hell. I had nightmares for ages.
Sadly, there are hundreds of these ‘schools’ operating all over the United States and they need no license to operate thanks to the Freedom of Religion Act and George W. Bush’s Faith Based Initiative Act. Teens are being abused in the name of treatment and the subject needs media attention.
My purpose in writing this book, not yet published, is to inform the
public about such places. It is critical for parents to know that many
of these unregulated "schools" (claiming to be caring religious
schools), do not have a state license to operate; are guilty of numerous
safety violations; are not accredited to teach school; have solitary
confinement rooms, which is illegal; and some refuse to allow fire departments,
social services and health inspectors to conduct inspections of the
grounds. Additionally, there have been documented deaths in some of
these schools, and rape and abuse allegations are common.
Some of these schools have been shut down but many still exist. Sometimes
they re-open under a different name. They get kicked out of one state
by authorities and open up in another state and do the same thing. They
use severe brainwashing techniques to force those inside to conform
to an extreme and oppressive version of Christianity that violates women's
rights, civil rights and freedom of speech. Furthermore, staff is not
qualified to deal with mental health issues as they usually have no
formal education. Many of the “staff” at these boot camps
and reform schools are teens themselves who are also in the program
and don’t even have high school diplomas. They are given the authority
to put your children in chokeholds and sit on them until they can’t
breathe as punishment for giving someone a dirty look or not finishing
their food.
These “schools” are not teaching love like they claim; they are facilities that are in place to do nothing more than to punish your child and brainwash them. Parents deserve to know the truth before signing custody of their teen over to someone they don't know for a year, or longer, to live in a facility that may be dangerous to their teen’s emotional, mental and physical health. Many girls who have come out of such places have struggled with depression and self-esteem issues for years afterward, myself included. The only form of counseling we received was Biblical scripture.
What can the public do? Write to your representatives of Congress and log on to: www.isaccorp.org (International Survivor’s Action Committee) for more information on these types of facilities and who runs them. This non-profit site provides information about religious reform schools and boot camps that engage in questionable practices and abuse girls and boys in the name of treatment. If we can’t get them shut down, let’s try to get them licensed so they can be properly regulated. Without a license, there is no oversight and the abuse continues. This is unacceptable in a democratic society. Thank goodness we have the Freedom from Religion Foundation!
Bio of Michele Ulriksen
Michele Ulriksen was born and raised in Southern California. As an
adult she moved to
San Francisco to study Film and Creative Writing at the Academy of Art
College. After a memorable five year romp in SF and Marin County, she
headed north to Oregon where she accepted a writing/editing position
with Oregon Public Broadcasting.
After four rewarding years in public radio, she resigned to accomplish some personal goals: launch her business (www.westhillscommunications.com), finish her book and return to school. She earned an AA Degree in Business Administration and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree. Her areas of study include English, History and Anthropology.
Her work has appeared in World Kid Magazine, Listen Magazine, the OPB Member Guide, Freethought Today, Gazette Times and The Commuter. She was recently interviewed by CNN about her upcoming book and has been invited to speak as part of a panel at a forum about reform schools. After her book is published, she has plans of making a documentary about the dangers of unregulated reform schools and teen boot camps.
Ms. Ulriksen is a student and freelance writer, and currently serves as Copy Editor for Linn-Benton Community College’s paper The Commuter. Reform at Victory is her first book. She lives in Oregon. To contact her, go to: www.westhillscommunications.com.
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